Let me know how your new habit is going here.

Each Monday this series of articles will feature pain management techniques to help you decrease and cope with pain.  It’s your at-home pain management class!

In this series, we’ve been looking at using pain management skills regularly.  Some of you may be doing great – practicing pain management techniques daily and getting benefits.  However, some of you may be having more difficulty with this change in behavior.

Changing a habit is hard!

Especially if you’re doing more than tweaking something.  Changing something completely takes concerted effort, and, more often than not, fits and starts until it comes together.

An intriguing suggestion comes from Haider Al-Mosawi of Personal Growth Map.  He writes that committing to a new habit doesn’t need to be a decision between zero commitment and 100% commitment.  You can try 1/2 habits.

What does that mean?

Rather than commiting fully to a new habit, you simply take a step in its direction.

Why is this better?  Your focus then turns to the progress that you’re making instead of the times you don’t succeed.

Here’s Haider’s article:  2 Simple Ways to Form New Habits Without Really Trying

Other articles in this series:

• How to change a habit, part 1
• How to change a habit, part 2
• Breathing exercises, part 1
• Relaxation exercise, part 1
• Breathing exercises, part 2
• Habit-helper websites
• How are you doing with your new habit?
• Try 1/2 a habit
• Visualization
• Feedback on changing habits, part 1
• Feedback on changing habits, part 2
• Guided imagery, part 1
• Guided imagery, part 2
• Stress management, part 1
• Stress management, part 2